PDF Search Function Not Working

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Level 1

5 points

PDF Search Function Not Working

I am trying to locate some words in a pdf file and I am having a difficult time doing so. I can see the words in the document, but when I search for a word the search turns up nothing. I know these words are searchable because my friend was able to locate words using his computer. (We have the same version)

I've tried other pdf files as well and had no luck.

Here are screen shots of my macbook version and the actual pdf I am trying to search.

http://i.imgur.com/L3apEmt.png

http://i.imgur.com/yIluoYb.png

MacBook Pro

Posted on Mar 20, 2013 4:27 PM

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Answer 1

softwater

Level 5

5,556 points

Mar 22, 2013 5:26 AM in response to Seinsmeld

It depends on the pdf. If the pdf is actually created from an image file, you can't do text string searches on the content unless you run it through some kind of OCR (optical character recognition) program first.

The free (-ish) notes app "Evernote.app" has a rudimentary OCR engine that might help, or you'll have to buy specialist software.

Other pdfs which are created from text files should be searchable in Preview.

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